


Duality

by MsLetcher17



Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Light Angst, Pining, Pre-Relationship, references to death, references to drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24095299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsLetcher17/pseuds/MsLetcher17
Summary: Things to do at a party:1. Drink Heavily2. Dance Like No One Is Watching3. Obsess Over the Moral Implications of Leaving Your New Found Family Behind For a New Job 2 Hours Away?Sounds exactly like something Macy Vaughn would do.
Relationships: Harry Greenwood & Macy Vaughn, Harry Greenwood/Macy Vaughn
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	Duality

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place during the party in 2x01.  
> Let’s pretend, for this story, Macy didn’t tell Maggie about the move until after Mel called Harry to the attic.  
> Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar mistakes

Duality was apparently going to always be a tentpole in Macy’s life. Being a Charmed one with demon blood. The freedom and independence of being an only child versus the inclusivity and acceptance that came with having siblings. Her need to always be in control and reserved outweighing her want to be fun and spontaneous. That fact was made even more evident by her current situation. Stuck between her dream job 2 hours away and her new found family. Macy felt like a hypocrite. Wasn’t it just a few months ago she was trying to guilt Maggie into staying in Hilltowne over the summer so they could spend time together. And now here she was. Considering moving away. And not just for the summer. Indefinitely. 

It wasn’t just the job that was enticing. The promise of a new start. A clean slate. She couldn’t deny the appeal. With all the good things moving to Hilltowne brought her, magic, her sisters, Harry, it brought bad in equal measure. Discovering why her mother couldn’t be in her life, becoming the source, Galvin’s death. 

See duality. 

Her urge to run could stem from the fact she’s never been anywhere long enough to get really attached to it. Sure she has memories, good and bad, from the different places she’s lived but none as deep or personal as the ones she’s made here. She wasn’t sure she was emotionally equipped to process everything that’s happened to her in the short time she’s lived in Hilltowne. Especially when every hallway, coffee shop and street corner brought back every painful memory at once.

She needed space. She needed room to breathe and think. Unfortunately, space away from her pain also meant space away from her sisters. Maybe she could convince them to come with her. Macy wasn’t the only one in this house that had been through trauma in the last year. They all had. Maybe a new start would be good for all of them. 

Macy Vaughn was many things. An optimist was rarely one of them. She knew what her sisters, Mel in particular, would say. They wouldn’t want to leave the house they grew up in. The only town they’ve ever lived in. Not for her. 

A hand on the small of her back shook her from her silent musings. Maybe a gigantic and extremely loud birthday party wasn’t the best place for her quiet rumination. She smiled at the handsome owner of the hand as he passed on his way to the kitchen. 

She decided to seek out a familiar face. Distraction from her growing anxiety spiral. As if by magic Harry appeared in her line of sight.

“Harry!” She tried to call his name loud enough so he could hear her over the music. His head popped up and he looked around until his eyes landed on her. Silently she wondered if he only heard her because she called his name with “purpose” her volume having nothing to do with it. 

“Well, hello, Macy,” Harry started as he stepped in front of her. “Are you enjoying the party?”

“Somewhat...I mean yes,” Macy stammered. She didn’t want to give her worry away but from the look on Harry’s face it was too late. He always knew exactly what she was feeling. 

“Maggie asked me to grab more cups from the office. Care to join me?” He also always knew the right thing to say. He was perfect.

“An opportunity to get away from all these people I don’t know?” Macy laughed lightly as she pretended to mull it over. “Yes please.” 

Harry extended his hand in a “after you” gesture. She took the offer and walked to the office with him close behind. They made sure to lock the door before the party started to prevent any sexual shenanigans. 

Macy used her powers to undo the lock. There was a part of her that wanted to look around for the cups she knew weren’t there. If only to give herself something to do. The motion of Harry redoing the lock on the door brought her eyes to him. He had a red solo cup in one hand and a magenta party hat on his head. He was adorable. He motioned her toward the couch, walked over and took a seat as he set his cup on the side table next to the couch. He noticed her fidgeting and patted the seat next him. An invitation to join. Once she sat down she let the warmth of his thigh pressing against her own bleed into her body. 

“So, what seems to be the problem?” He asked as he rested his hand on her knee almost unconsciously. 

“Who said there was a problem?” He made the achingly familiar “come on” look and she dropped her pretense. “Ok, there may be a small problem.”

“Well go on then. Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“I was offered a job,” She started. “No. Not  _ a _ job. I was offered  _ the _ job. At a genetics lab doing bio-ethical research.”

“That’s your dream job.” He looked at her closer. Looked into her eyes. “But, your expression tells me there is more to this story.”

“The job is in Ann Arbor.”

“Which is 2 hours away,” he finished her thought. “I can see how that might be a problem.”

“Maybe they have an opening in the women’s studies department and you and I can commute via orb everyday.”

“While that is certainly an idea. I don’t think it’s the best one for this situation.” And he was right. Macy wasn’t the most social person but what if she made friends and they wanted to hang out. Should she lie and say they couldn’t come to her place. Would they believe she had a 2 hour commute from work to home and back everyday? Maybe she could get an apartment there and pretend like she lives there while she actually comes back to Hilltowne every night.

These were all options and only most of them were terrible.

“You’re right,” she lamented. “I don’t know what to do. I love my sisters. And I’m glad that we were brought into each other’s lives but I can’t ignore the fact that being here is painful for me now.”

“I understand.”

“It just feels like every time something good happens in my life something equally as bad happens too,” she continued as she rose from the couch to pace around the small room. “My dad died. I found a new family. I find out I have magical powers. I find out I have demon blood in me which is the reason my mother had to leave me when I was young. I lose my virginity and the guy I lose it to dies saving the world. It hasn’t been long since we defeated the source. What if something bad is just around the corner?” 

Hysterical isn’t the nicest word to describe a person when they’re freaking out, especially a woman, but there was really no better term for Macy’s current state. Harry stood from the couch and grabbed her shoulders to still her increasingly frantic movements. 

“Macy you need to breathe.” Harry exaggerated his breathing until hers replicated his rhythm. He waited patiently until her eyes met his own. “Come, let’s sit back down.” He led her back to the couch and sat her down before reclaiming his seat next to her. “Look, I understand this is stressful but you’re about to give yourself a panic attack.”

“That would be bad,” Her attempt at banter fell flat but Harry at least let out a sound resembling a laugh and that was enough to make her feel somewhat better.

“Now, you and I both know life is full of happiness and pain,” He began. “Whether you live in Hilltowne, Ann Arbor or Antarctica. There’s no way to escape that. And I think you know that already. What is this really about?” How did he always know what to say?

“I love my sisters,” She repeated. The waver in her voice didn’t go unnoticed. 

“Are you trying to convince me,” Harry asked. “Or yourself?” 

“No I mean...no,” She huffed. “I’ve never had to think about sisters before. A year ago, the decisions I made were for me. They were made by me and for  _ me _ without any input or regard for anybody else’s feelings but my own. A single child mentality like that doesn’t just turn off over night.”

“That’s true.”

“But,” She continued. “I’m not sure that loving them is enough for me to stay. I can love them from Ann Arbor. And I can be their sister from Ann Arbor too. I just…” She paused trying to organize her thoughts. “I don’t know if I can be a charmed one from Ann Arbor. And I  _ am _ sure that  _ that’s _ not enough to make me stay.” Harry stayed silent. Like he knew she wasn’t finished with her thoughts. She wasn’t. “I just...I don't know what to do. I don’t want them to think I don’t care about them. I don’t want them to think that some job is more important than them. Than us. But. There is this part of me. This small persistent fraction of that girl who has always been alone that just keeps whispering, maybe it is.”

“Macy,” Harry started but she continued having not heard his attempt to get her attention.

“That’s horrible right? That I’m feeling this way? That I would be willing to put a job over my relationship with my sisters. What do you think I should do?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. She was unsurprised by the answer. “I can only imagine how difficult it must be to go from only thinking about what’s good for you to having to take two other people’s feelings into consideration. And even without the pressure of being a charmed one leaving sisters you’ve just met is big. The fear that the physical distance will cause a rift is a legitimate one. I apologize I don’t think I have the answers you’re looking for.”

“If my sisters aren’t enough to keep me here and my duty as a charmed one isn’t enough. Can you think of anything else? Any  _ other _ reason I should stay?”

Harry’s eyes snapped to hers but he remained silent. Macy’s head was a mess right now. So many thoughts swirling and colliding. She was confused about a lot. The one thing she was sure of was the age old saying. Time heals all wounds. And even though she hadn’t made it through her grief over Galvin yet she was sure she would one day. She was also sure who she wanted to be waiting for her on the other side. Part of her was afraid leaving would close a door with Harry she may never be able to open again. 

She was sure she didn’t want that. 

Macy kept her eyes locked on his as he took several deep breaths. He seemed to be in deep contemplation. So she let her eyes drift to the silly magenta party hat on the top of his head. Her thoughts, thankfully, clear for the first time in days. Harry’s mere presence was enough to calm her. His intake of breath that signaled he was about to speak brought her eyes back to his. 

“I…” He began but stopped abruptly and squinted his eyes in concentration. She knew that face. Someone was calling him. She knew what was coming next. “I apologize. I have to go. Mel is calling me.”

“I understand,” Macy nodded. “Go, and find me later. You owe me a dance.”

Harry nodded in agreement and grabbed his cup. With a flash of light he orbed from the office. Macy wasn’t sure what he was going to say but she was going to drink a lot of alcohol to preemptively stop obsessing. 

Later, when she was blissfully numb from the multiple tequila shots she drank, Harry tapped her shoulder in the middle of the makeshift dance floor. She smiled when she saw it was him and he motioned towards himself. He was asking her to dance and she was just tipsy enough to not overthink the implications of slow dancing with the whitelighter she was growing more and more attracted to. 

As he pulled her into his arms her heartbeat kicked into overdrive. For now she would blame it on the heat. As much sense as that made. She didn’t want to be emotional and drunk. For now she would rest her cheek on his shoulder and it wouldn’t mean anything more than a comfortable place for her head to go while they danced. 

“I think you should go,” He whispered into her ear. She lifted her head up to meet his eyes. She was, at first, confused about what was talking about but her sluggish brain caught up quickly. Her eyes widened but he spoke before she could. “All I want is for you three to be happy and I don’t think you’re happy here. So I think you should go. Mel will be upset but she will understand eventually and we’ll figure out the whole long distance charmed ones thing.”

He took a breath and smiled a little sadly before continuing. “Having sisters, family, you’re close to is all about carving out time to take care of yourself. And that sometimes takes you away from them physically but not emotionally. Go find your happiness Macy. You deserve it.”

Macy was speechless. She wasn’t sure she had the mental capacity to form anything resembling a coherent response in her current state. So, in lieu of a reply, she smiled and nodded. She then returned her cheek to his shoulder as they continued to dance to the song playing from the speakers. She let his scent envelop her. Let herself get lost in it. Let her mind wander to daydreams of happier times. Wishing she could live in this moment forever. 

Find your happiness, he said. Finding happiness wasn’t Macy’s problem. Keeping it? Well, that was another story. 

**Author's Note:**

> I know I should be working on Part 3 of my Christmas fic but I've been feeling a little blocked with that one and the idea for this just hit me and I couldn't not write it. So here you go...  
> Hope you liked it!


End file.
